Intel and Rockchip have reached a collaboration agreement that will result in the new range of SoFIA processors. With this union, both companies hope hand in hand, to grow in market share focusing on the lower range. Low cost tablets, which will even have prices of less than 100 euros, which will incorporate the new quad-core processors could begin to appear at the beginning of the the next year.
A few days ago we told you that Intel had expanded its incentive plan, offering new manufacturers, both from China and from other countries, the possibility of using their processors in an advantageous way. With these agreements they would seek to grow in a market dominated by Qualcomm reducing your profits to a minimum. If everything continues according to their plans, they hope to send during this 2014 until 40 million tablets with company processors.
This plan has emerged as a result of Apple's dominance in the US and European markets in the high-end, and therefore, they had taken the initiative to fully focus on low-end tablets, with still a long way to go. Along the same lines, the agreement that we are telling you now would reach Rockchip, a Chinese company that is dedicated to the manufacture and development of ARM processors for very low cost tablets.
Although many of you do not know them, they are responsible for the chips that are integrated in many of the current tablets reduced price, many of them do not exceed 100 euros. Intel, which already has some important allies such as Asus, Acer, Lenovo, HP or Toshiba, which use its processors in some of the Android and Windows 8 models, would have a new possibility to grow in places where tablets are still destined for a privileged few.
The first results of this strategic agreement would begin to be seen with the entry of 2015, when the first SoFIA processors which is how they have been baptized, be ready to operate inside these devices. There will be three different versions, a dual-core with 3G that would be the first to arrive, a quad-core with 3G that will be manufactured in conjunction with Rockchip and one last compatible with LTE networks.
Again, the business plan requires that the benefits are not very high, since the margin left by the sale of a tablet of less than 100 euros is much lower than those that could be obtained with medium and high-end terminals. In any case and as we said the other day, it is a risky plan that if it turns out well, I could open the door to others more ambitious in the future.
Source: The Free Android